Helena Braun
Helena Braun | |
|---|---|
 Braun, c. 1950 | |
| Born | 20 March 1903 |
| Died | 2 September 1990 (aged 87) |
| Occupation | Operatic soprano |
| Years active | 1928–1959 |
| Organisation(s) | Bavarian State Opera Vienna State Opera |
| Spouse | Ferdinand Frantz |
| Signature | |
 | |
Helena Braun (20 March 1903 – 2 September 1990) was a German
Braun performed at the Metropolitan Opera for a brief period in 1949–1950 with her husband, Ferdinand Frantz, as a temporary replacement for Helen Traubel who had laryngitis. She continued singing in Munich in the 1950s with several international guest performances, and retired from opera after Frantz's death in 1959.
Early life
Helena Braun was born in Düsseldorf on 20 March 1903.[1] She was initially trained as a mezzo-soprano and studied with Heinrich van Helden, a local baritone in Düsseldorf. Her early studies included roles such as the title character of Bizet's Carmen and Azucena from Verdi's Il trovatore.[2][3] She also trained in Cologne and in Vienna with Hermann Gallos and Hans Duhan.[4][5]
Career
Braun's stage debut was in Mozart's
She created the title role of Rudolf Wagner-Régeny's Johanna Balk in Vienna on 4 April 1941.[6] The opera was met with a hostile public response for its perceived anti-fascist themes and apparent influence of the German-Jewish composer Kurt Weill, as well as its unconventional musical elements.[7][8] However, the German musicologist Dieter Härtwig later praised the expressiveness of Braun's performances.[9] That same year she returned to the Zoppot Festspiele as Ortrud in Wagner's Lohengrin. She sang at the 1941 and 1942 Salzburg Festivals as Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni and as the Countess in Figaro, respectively.[4] In reviews of the 1942 recording, critics later characterized Braun as a "better-than-average" Countess but ranked her performance below those of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Lisa Della Casa, and Kiri Te Kanawa.[10][11]
Braun was married to the German bass-baritone
She continued performing with the Bavarian State Opera in the 1950s.
Retirement
Braun retired from the opera after Frantz's death in 1959. She gave a farewell performance as Ortrud in Munich that year.[5] In her later life, she moved several times and lived in Hohenpeißenberg, Wiesbaden, Sulzberg (in Oberallgäu), and Sonthofen. Braun died at her home in Sonthofen on 2 September 1990, at the age of 87.[4][5]
Recordings
The Opera Quarterly named Braun among a group of "major singers heard on disc only sporadically".[16] In addition to the full-length opera recordings in the following list, she also recorded selections from Wagner's Götterdämmerung, Der fliegende Holländer, and Parsifal,[17][18] Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide, and Borodin's Prince Igor.[16]
| Year | Role | Other cast | Conductor Opera house and orchestra |
Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Mozart Le nozze di Figaro (The Countess) |
Hans Hotter Erich Kunz Irma Beilke Gerda Sommerschuh Gustav Neidlinger Res Fischer Josef Witt |
Clemens Krauss Vienna Philharmonic, Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor Recorded at the 1942 Salzburg Festival |
Preiser Records | [10] |
| 1949 | Wagner Die Walküre (Brünnhilde) |
Hilde Konetzni Rosette Anday Günther Treptow Ferdinand Frantz Herbert Alsen |
Rudolf Moralt Vienna Symphony |
Myto Records | [19] |
| 1950 | Wagner Tristan und Isolde (Isolde) |
Günther Treptow Margarete Klose Paul Schöffler |
Hans Knappertsbusch Bavarian State Opera |
Orfeo | [20] |
| 1952 | Wagner Lohengrin (Ortrud) |
Lorenz Fehrenberger Annelies Kupper Ferdinand Frantz |
Eugen Jochum Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra |
Preiser Records | [21] |
| 1952 | Wagner Tristan und Isolde (Isolde) |
Günther Treptow Ferdinand Frantz Rudolf Großmann Margarete Klose |
Erich Kleiber Bavarian State Opera |
Myto Records | [22] |
References
- ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
- ^ ProQuest 105875127.
- .
- ^ ISBN 978-3-598-11598-1.
- ^ Gale A116870873.
- ^ "Johanna Balk am 04.04.1941" (in German). Vienna State Opera. Archived from the original on 30 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-312-10381-1.
- Gale A492222141.
- OCLC 8740131.
- ^ ProQuest 223426135.
- Gale A77197839.
- OCLC 273914.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ ProQuest 105875888.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ ProQuest 237015933.
- ProQuest 224263654.
- .
- Gale A19263054.
- Gale A16802298.
- Gale A138755568.
- ISBN 978-3-8260-2786-4.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
